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Foul Mouth Myna Bird At China Zoo Swears At Tourists

A tough talking myna bird has been put into isolation by zookeepers for hurling swear words at visitors. It looks to be the fault of zoo patrons who taught the bird some very inappropriate language.

An article in The Indian Express writes that myna birds, officially known as Gracula religiosia, are linguistic marvels. Hailing from the hill regions of South and Southeast Asia, the creatures have the stunning talent to accurately mimic the speech and singing of humans.

In 2010, eight mynas from Vietnam were brought to the Jiufeng Forest Zoo in Wuhan, Hubei Province’s capital. Of the eight birds, four were chosen for the zoo’s World of Birds exhibit on the basis of their linguistic abilities.

The birds were taught simple greetings to bestow upon visitors as they entered or exited the zoo. To prevent mischief by tourists, the zoo kept banners on display warning people not to teach the mynas inappropriate language.

According to AOL, a Jiufeng Forest zookeeper heard one of the mynas utter an expletive in the presence of zoo patrons. Li Yun , who works as a caretaker at the exhibit, was surprised by the outburst. However, he had previously witnessed other tourists attempting to teach foul words to the mimicking birds.

The Daily Mail reports that the zoo has taken steps to prevent the other exhibit mynas from mimicking the swearing bird. The offending bird has been put into isolation where it is being retrained. Zookeepers plan to have the bird listen to a series of polite words on tape and will withhold food when a curse word is uttered.